Service providers supply data service to customers within a particular geographical area, typically within a city or community. When a customer needs connectivity between two locations, and the service provider does not have its own connectivity between the two locations, the service provider may hand off the data stream to a transport provider, which transports data packets in a tunnel between service provider networks. Accordingly, service providers receive a data stream from a customer and modify the data stream so that it is suitable for transport through the tunnel.
Currently, many service providers provide this type of connectivity using devices and software that are expensive and difficult to configure, manage, and maintain. Some service providers, for example, are using conventional routers to map a data stream into a transport tunnel. Conventional routers are often expensive because they use custom silicon, large buffer spaces for storing data packets, and a complex, high-speed software module that manipulates those data packets.